It is very often desirable to clean a gas stream of particulates and/or undesirable gases. It is sometimes desirable to remove particulates or selective gases for capture or disposal from a gas stream by absorption or mixing with a liquid. It is also becoming more desirable and popular to clean air in domestic settings, particularly the removal of spores, bacteria, and viruses due to the current biological threats by terrorists. Other domestic pollutants include, but are not limited to, allergens such as pollen, mites, pet dandruff, hair and dead skin and dust, and gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other auto emissions.
Several methods are currently used to clean or partially clean gases such as air in a domestic setting. Some of the most common methods of “cleaning air” are the utilization of filter systems, electrostatic devices, and venturi scrubbers. Filter systems require frequent cleaning and electrostatic devices and venturi scrubbers are limited in the quantity of gas that can be processed economically.
Viruses, bacteria, spores, small particulate and some small insects such as some small baby spiders, often float in air currents and even circle the earth. It is the that such minute living beings can travel to outer space and live for over one thousand years, even though exposed to extreme temperatures and radiation. It is therefore not reasonable to assume that the gravitational force of only one gravity can totally and efficiently remove such minute beings and particulate from the domestic air that we breathe, in a reasonable time period. Yet, it is very easy to provide a centrifugal force in excess of well over a thousand gravities with air at the surface of a flowing liquid, and to impact the surface of such flowing liquid with the air at a velocity in excess of 100 feet per second to remove the undesirable parts from the air.
It is a desire to provide an improved method and apparatus for removing particulates and selected gases from a gas stream by flowing the stream at a high velocity and subjecting it to a high centrifugal force at the surface of a flowing liquid. It is a further desire to convey a stream of gas through a stream of liquid at a high velocity to mix the air and liquid and to remove the undesirable parts from the air by absorption with the liquid. It is a still further desire to centrifugally remove retained liquids, wetted particulates, and heavier parts from the air stream by flowing the air stream at a high velocity through a cyclone.